How Does Animal Control Work in Mewgenics?

Animal Control is a passive Hunter ability in Mewgenics that modifies your basic attack to force the target unit to immediately attack an enemy within their range. It's one of the most unique basic attack modifiers in the game because it doesn't add damage — it adds an entirely separate action, turning every Lobbed Shot into a form of mind control.

This article explains exactly how Animal Control works, what the upgraded version adds, which synergies make it powerful, and how it interacts with specific enemies and scenarios.

Animal Control: Base Effect

Animal Control (base): Your basic attack causes units to immediately attack an enemy in range.

When your Hunter lands a basic attack on any unit — enemy, familiar, or otherwise — that unit is compelled to immediately perform an attack against an enemy within their own attack range. This forced attack happens on your turn, using the target's own stats and basic attack. Effectively, you're getting two attacks for the price of one: your Lobbed Shot damage plus whatever the target deals to their own teammate.

The forced attack follows the target unit's own attack rules. If the target is a melee enemy, it will swing at an adjacent enemy. If the target has a ranged attack, it will fire at an enemy within its own range. If there are no valid targets within the affected unit's range, the forced attack simply doesn't happen — but your Lobbed Shot damage still applies normally.

Animal Control is classified as a passive ability, meaning it's always active once learned and doesn't cost mana to use. Cats can hold a maximum of two passive abilities, so it occupies one of your two passive slots.

Animal Control+: Upgraded Effect

Animal Control+ (upgraded): Your basic attack causes units to immediately attack an enemy in range. Your basic attack can heal allies.

The upgraded version retains the forced-attack effect and adds the ability to heal allied units with your basic attack. This is a significant upgrade because it transforms the Hunter — normally a pure damage class — into a hybrid support. A single Lobbed Shot aimed at an ally will heal them, and a shot aimed at an enemy will still force that enemy to attack its own team.

The heal-on-allies component also means your basic attack now has meaningful targets on both sides of the battlefield. In turns where no enemy is in safe range or when your team desperately needs sustain, the Hunter can fire a healing Lobbed Shot at an injured ally instead of dealing damage — all without spending a single point of mana.

How to Get Animal Control

Animal Control is a class-specific passive ability for the Hunter class. It can appear as one of your four options during a level-up while playing as a Hunter. Since ability offers at level-up are randomized, there's no guarantee you'll see it in any given run — but it's part of the Hunter's pool of 25 passive abilities.

Animal Control is also inheritable, which means a cat that has learned it can pass it down to offspring through breeding. If you're planning a long-term Hunter lineage with specific abilities, Animal Control is a viable target for inheritance. Keeping the Stimulation stat high in your house increases the chance that offspring inherit their parents' abilities.

Key Synergies

Animal Control becomes dramatically stronger when paired with abilities and items that increase how often your basic attack fires, how reliably it lands, or how much value each individual shot extracts. Here are the strongest combinations.

Bullseye (Hunter Passive)

Bullseye makes your ranged attacks never miss and grants +25% critical hit chance. Since Animal Control only triggers when your basic attack actually hits a target, accuracy is the single most important stat for maximizing its value. A missed Lobbed Shot means zero forced attacks. Bullseye guarantees every Lobbed Shot lands, which guarantees every shot triggers Animal Control's forced-attack effect.

The +25% crit chance also means your Lobbed Shot itself deals more damage before the forced attack even happens. The upgraded Bullseye+ adds +1 Luck Up on every crit, creating a snowball where your shots get progressively more likely to crit throughout a fight.

The catch: both Animal Control and Bullseye are passive abilities, and you can only equip two. Taking both means you have no room for any other passive. That trade-off is worth it in most situations — the combination of guaranteed hits plus forced attacks on every shot is exceptionally strong. But it does mean you'll need to get your other utility from active abilities and items rather than passives.

Arrowsmith and Craft Arrow (Hunter Actives)

Both of these abilities grant a Bonus Attack, allowing you to fire an additional Lobbed Shot in the same turn. Since Animal Control applies to every basic attack, a Bonus Attack means two forced-action triggers per turn instead of one. Combined with Bullseye for guaranteed accuracy, this is two guaranteed forced attacks per turn for no additional mana cost beyond what Arrowsmith or Craft Arrow requires.

Craft Arrow has the added benefit of creating an arrow pickup that can be collected for additional effects, feeding into resource-based builds.

Marked (Hunter Active)

Marked inflicts the Marked status on a target, guaranteeing that the next physical attack against it is a critical hit and cannot miss. In a party context, you can use Marked on a high-priority target, then have your other cats follow up with guaranteed crits.

But the synergy with Animal Control is more subtle: if you Marked an enemy and then hit a different nearby enemy with your Lobbed Shot, the forced attack triggered by Animal Control could potentially target the Marked unit, consuming the mark with the target's own ally's attack. This is situational but can create efficient damage chains without spending additional actions.

Sentry Mode and Tower Defense

Sentry Mode (active, 6 mana) causes you to automatically shoot the next enemy that ends its movement within your basic attack range. Tower Defense (passive) does something similar, automatically firing at enemies that enter your range. Both of these trigger your basic attack, which means both trigger Animal Control.

With Tower Defense in particular, enemies walking into your range on their own turn get shot, and that shot forces them to immediately attack one of their allies. This creates a punishing defensive zone where enemies hurt their own team just by approaching your Hunter. The downside is that Tower Defense occupies a passive slot, so you'd need to choose between it and Bullseye or Animal Control's pairing with another passive.

Catch Projectiles (Hunter Passive)

Catch Projectiles lets you catch incoming ranged attacks and convert them into bonus attacks. Each caught projectile gives you an additional basic attack, and each of those basic attacks triggers Animal Control. In fights against ranged-heavy enemy compositions, this can result in multiple forced attacks per round without spending any mana.

The particularly clever synergy here involves your own allies. If you have a Cleric ally that fires healing projectiles, you can catch those projectiles for bonus attacks. Your Hunter catches the heal, gains a bonus Lobbed Shot, and that shot triggers Animal Control on an enemy — turning incoming support into offensive action.

Rubber Arrows (Hunter Passive)

Rubber Arrows causes your projectiles to bounce to another enemy within three tiles. If your Lobbed Shot bounces from one enemy to a second, each hit may trigger Animal Control separately, potentially forcing two different enemies to attack their allies in a single shot. This interaction needs in-game verification, but if bounce hits do trigger on-hit effects like Animal Control, the value is enormous — especially against tightly grouped enemies.

Items That Enhance Basic Attacks

Several items from the Mewgenics item pool add effects to your basic attack that stack with Animal Control:

Monocle — Physical attacks can't miss. A more accessible alternative to Bullseye if you need your passive slots for other abilities. Guarantees every Lobbed Shot (and therefore every Animal Control trigger) connects.

Items that grant +1 Damage on basic attack — Straightforward damage increase on every Lobbed Shot, making the initial hit stronger before the forced attack adds value.

Items that create bramble tiles on basic attack — Your Lobbed Shot spawns brambles on the target tile, dealing additional environmental damage. Combined with Animal Control, the target takes Lobbed Shot damage, gets brambles under their feet, and is then forced to attack an ally.

Items with +10% Bonus Attack chance — Each proc gives an extra Lobbed Shot, which is another Animal Control trigger.

Nurse Set Bonus — Changes your basic attack to the Holy element and allows it to heal allies. This stacks with Animal Control+'s healing component, making your basic attack an even stronger support tool when targeting allies. On enemies, the Holy element damage applies before the forced attack triggers.

Skill Share (Collarless Passive)

Skill Share duplicates your other passive ability onto the rest of your team. If your Hunter has Animal Control and Skill Share, every cat in your party gains Animal Control on their basic attacks. A Fighter's Melee Attack, a Mage's Magic Dart, a Tank's basic hit — all of them now force the target to attack an enemy. This is an endgame-tier combo (Skill Share requires completing the Boneyard with a Collarless cat), but the payoff is extraordinary.

Notable Enemy Interactions

Maisie (The Alley Mini-Boss)

The most famous Animal Control interaction in the community. Maisie is a Tank-like mini-boss who fights alongside five kittens and has a permanent Bodyguard buff — she teleports to swap places with any kitten you target, absorbing the hit for them. Her entire kit revolves around protecting and buffing her babies.

Animal Control short-circuits this encounter. When you hit Maisie with a Lobbed Shot, the forced attack compels her to swing at the nearest enemy in range — and since she's always positioned right next to her own kittens, she attacks them. Every Lobbed Shot on Maisie becomes Maisie attacking her own children. She cries out each time one goes down, and when the last kitten falls, she meows dejectedly before fleeing.

This bypass is effective because it completely avoids the Bodyguard puzzle that normally defines the fight. No AoE needed, no stun-locking, no hazard tiles — just hit Maisie and let her do the rest.

Enemies with Powerful Basic Attacks

Animal Control's forced attack uses the target's own stats and basic attack. This means the forced attack is stronger when used on enemies with high offensive stats. Hitting a high-Strength melee enemy with Animal Control forces it to unleash its full-power melee attack on a nearby ally. Against bosses or elite enemies with enhanced attacks, this can result in devastating friendly-fire damage that far exceeds what your Hunter could deal alone.

Summoner Enemies

Enemies that fight alongside summoned minions are vulnerable to Animal Control for the same reason Maisie is — the summoner is usually positioned near its own minions, providing valid targets for the forced attack. Hitting the summoner forces it to attack its own summons; hitting the summons forces them to attack the summoner or each other.

Tips for Using Animal Control

Prioritize accuracy. Animal Control does nothing on a miss. Getting Bullseye, Monocle, or Marked into your build before or alongside Animal Control is essential. An unreliable Animal Control trigger is barely better than not having it.

Target enemies near their allies. The forced attack can only happen if there's a valid target in the affected unit's range. If you hit an isolated enemy with no allies nearby, Animal Control has no valid target and the forced attack doesn't trigger. Position your shots on enemies that are clustered with their team for maximum value.

Use it to bypass defensive mechanics. Bodyguard effects, high Shield values, and other damage mitigation on a target's allies don't matter if the forced attack comes from their own teammate. Animal Control forces enemies to use their own attack against their own allies, circumventing whatever defensive buffs those allies might have against your team.

Don't forget the upgraded heal. Animal Control+ lets your basic attack heal allies. In the late game, this dual-purpose basic attack — damage-plus-forced-attack on enemies, heal on allies — gives your Hunter unmatched flexibility without spending a single point of mana.

It's inheritable — plan your breeding. If you find Animal Control on a Hunter that survives the run, that cat becomes valuable breeding stock. The ability can be passed to offspring, letting you start future runs with a Hunter that already has access to one of the class's best passives without relying on level-up RNG.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Animal Control a passive or active ability? Animal Control is a passive Hunter ability. Since it modifies your basic attack and is always in effect without requiring mana to activate, it functions as a passive in practice. It occupies one of your two passive ability slots.

Does the forced attack trigger on-hit effects? The forced attack uses the target's own basic attack, so it should trigger any on-hit effects that the target has. This needs further in-game testing to confirm edge cases.

Can you pass Animal Control to non-Hunter cats through breeding? Yes, Animal Control is inheritable. However, the ability is Hunter-specific, so the offspring would typically need to be assigned the Hunter collar to benefit from it. Jester cats, who can draw abilities from any class pool, could also potentially access it.

Does Animal Control work with Druid's Sing? This is an interesting edge case. Since Sing is classified as a basic attack for modifier purposes, Animal Control should theoretically apply through Sing's AoE — potentially forcing every unit in the area to attack an enemy. This interaction needs in-game verification but could be extremely powerful (or chaotic) if it works as the modifier system suggests.